Physics > Physics and Society

Title:
How women organize social networks different from men

Abstract: Superpositions of social networks, such as communication, friendship, or
trade networks, are called multiplex networks, forming the structural backbone
of human societies. Novel datasets now allow quantification and exploration of
multiplex networks. Here we study gender-specific differences of a multiplex
network from a complete behavioral dataset of an online-game society of about
300,000 players. On the individual level females perform better economically
and are less risk-taking than males. Males reciprocate friendship requests from
females faster than vice versa and hesitate to reciprocate hostile actions of
females. On the network level females have more communication partners, who are
less connected than partners of males. We find a strong homophily effect for
females and higher clustering coefficients of females in trade and attack
networks. Cooperative links between males are under-represented, reflecting
competition for resources among males. These results confirm quantitatively
that females and males manage their social networks in substantially different
ways.

Comments:

8 pages, 3 figures

Subjects:

Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph); Social and Information Networks (cs.SI)